Facebook Users Posted A Third Less Content In 2016 Than In 2015

Looking through 25 million user-generated Facebook posts, as social marketers Mavrck have done, some interesting - and worrying - trends emerge. The first one that jumped out was a further - and accelerating it seems -double-digit decline regarding original content posted by regular Facebook users - 29.49% to be exact. The average Facebook users is less personally engaged with the platform than the year before - this context crisis is not new but it does not appear to be getting better either.

Despite this it seems that Facebook has gotten back its mojo when it comes to News Feed engagement in general - between September 2015 and March 2016 it reversed a seven-month decline due to multiple algorithm changes (video up weighted and user postings up weighted). The research seems to point to a world where less ads are better for Facebook and yet Marketers cannot spend enough on the platform. There may be trouble ahead - especially if Facebook continues to max out of spaces to put ads.

WHAT DOES THIS ALL MEAN?

25 million posts is still a small number when you factor in +300 million photos alone are uploaded every day to Facebook but it is still a large sample and is by no mean a small feat either. Facebook isn't going anywhere and the key phrase above is "multiple algorithms change". Facebook retains all the power in this scenario unless we the people decide to leave the platform (a highly likely motivation for the recent spree of feature-thefts from Snapchat). Leaving Facebook is the only power people have and while the most recent numbers from Facebook suggest that isn't happening - Mavrck research seems to suggest attitudes towards the Big Blue Whale are changing with people using Facebook in different ways or for different reasons:

Additional interesting findings from the study:

- Users are engaging less on Facebook: User engagement was lower than 2015 levels - a 15.14% drop in engagements per post.

- Basic engagement dropped: Likes, Comments, and Shares saw large decreases in 2016, 7.87% - Likes per post, 37.47% less Comments per post, and 27.8% drop in Shares per post.

- Not surprisingly, 2016 ended busier than it began - a 26.06 percent increase to be exact.

2017 will be a key year for Facebook for a number of reasons; increased competition (Snap, Weibo), decreased favourable media attention, increased likelihood of future regulation, no clear path into China, major issues with one of the core user uses (news) and a user base that (while growing) is not just getting older but also bored it seems. Facebook has plenty to sweat over while being the biggest media beast ever created. How it handles itself during this year will be key to future success Zuckerburg laid out in the Facebook ten-year plan.